Ferry Woods Hole Cleared to Return to Service

Ferry service to and from the Vineyard returned to some degree of normalcy Sunday afternoon, after one of two disabled ferries was cleared to resume service. Meanwhile, the Martha’s Vineyard representative on the Steamship Authority board called for an independent review of the boat line’s communications and operations in light of what he called an unprecedented fiasco that has disrupted traffic for days.

“Management did a lot of things well, helping people with medical issues and letting people park and ride for free, but our communications were terrible. People deserve better. They deserve to know what is going on,” said Marc Hanover in an interview Sunday with the Gazette.

The U.S. Coast Guard cleared the ferry Woods Hole to resume service starting with a scheduled trip at 3:45 p.m. Sunday, Steamship Authority general manager Bob Davis said in an press release. The Woods Hole was pulled from service late Thursday night because of a mechanical issue that had plagued the ferry on and off for about a week.

As of early Monday afternoon the ferry was operating without any issues.

The ferry Martha’s Vineyard, the other main passenger ferry providing service to the Island, was taken out of service Tuesday night after problems with the generator and is now expected to return to operation Wednesday pending Coast Guard inspection, Mr. Davis said in a statement Monday.

The Martha's Vineyard was expected to return to service Tuesday, but Mr. Davis said in a statement that the ferry will be delayed a day as the Steamship Authority submits updated testing procedures for the vessel's new switchboard.

The Coast Guard's Marine Safety Center will review the procedures before tests are completed Tuesday. The ferry will likely return to its regular service on Wednesday, Mr. Davis said.

Standby lines have been reopened in both Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven, the Steamship Authority said, but passengers with vehicles were encouraged to travel with a reservation.

The freight vessel Katama continued to operate according to its published schedule and the freight ferry Sankaty will continue providing service in place of the ferry Martha’s Vineyard.

The passenger-only SeaStreak ferry Whaling City Express, which has been operating high-speed service between the Vineyard and Woods Hole since Friday morning, was to end service after 4 p.m. Sunday, the Steamship Authority said.

Mr. Hanover said the factors that led to two ferries being disabled at once appeared to be unrelated, but that the Steamship Authority needs to be better prepared to handle these issues.

“These boats get heavy, heavy use and they require an awful lot of maintenance. We need to be on top of that,” he said. “There are a lot more electronics involved than in the old days, and these new engines are far more complicated with the emissions systems on them now.”

And he was critical of varying standards used by ferry captains in deciding under what conditions to sail.

“We have captains that sail sometimes and others that choose not to and I don’t understand why that is. My feeling is that the only reason not to run a boat is when safety is involved. I don’t know if it is training or what it is, but I’d like to know,” he said. “We need to be more consistent. We need to be more reliable. We need to be on time.”

He also noted that the situation pointed at a problem with the Island’s reserves of heating fuel. While Nantucket is able to get along for four days without fuel shipments from the mainland, the Vineyard’s supply of propane was depleted after a day.

But Mr. Hanover reserved his biggest criticism for the way communications were handled, ticking off examples of what he said was the boat line’s inadequate response.

“Inaccurate posts on the website. We need a Facebook page. We need an Instagram page. We need to have all sorts of ways to contact our customers,” he said.

He said he had spoken Sunday to Mr. Davis about the need for a marine consultant to look at this and other issues. It was unclear Sunday what the next step would be.

The ferry Woods Hole traveled back to the Vineyard from the Steamship Authority Fairhaven maintenance dock on Sunday. Mr. Davis said the engineering department and a vendor technician determined that check valves in the ferry’s port propeller shaft had broken. Technicians installed newer models of the valves for both the port and starboard shafts, Mr. Davis said, and reassembled the units.

The Coast Guard inspected the repairs and took the vessel on sea trials before clearing the vessel to return to service, he said.

The ferry Martha’s Vineyard has been in and out of service since the ferry lost power off East Chop last Saturday night, stranding more than 70 passengers for about five hours. Problems stemmed from issues with ferry generators, Mr. Davis has said.

On Sunday Mr. Davis said the engineering department and a technician for the vendor of the ferry’s generator identified parts of the generator that need to be replaced. Work is expected to be done in time for a Coast Guard inspection on Monday, he said, and the boat line anticipates that the ferry will return to service Tuesday.

A third ferry, the Island Home, is also undergoing routine maintenance, and is now due back in service on Wednesday. Mr. Hanover said the Island Home was originally supposed to be back in service last Friday, but was kept a little longer to ensure it was fit.

The unexpected loss of two ferries created a chaotic scene for ferry passengers and the Steamship Authority throughout the week. On Friday a line of cars reached from the Vineyard Haven terminal to Five Corners as customers figured out what to do. The boat line cancelled standby service except for medical emergencies and ferries ran late-night trips Friday for trucks to deliver goods to the Island.

Mr. Hanover praised SeaStreak management, which he said was apprised of the Steamship Authority’s problems at 11 p.m. Thursday night and got a spare ferry from New Jersey to Massachusetts and ready to begin operation by 6 a.m. the next morning. He also was complimentary of the Steamship Authority’s management.

“They’ve done an outstanding job throughout this, but I don’t want them to go through this again,” he said.

Comments (17)

Absolutely agree. Put a passenger only ferry as a year round option. SeaStreak-like service has proven to be indispensable. The new "too big" boats with all the new technology break down way too much for an island community. We deserve better service, and as Mr. Hanover states we need better communication. The SSA is showing it's monopoly stripes all too much lately and needs to re-examine itself.

Used the SeaStreak over the weekend and it was great. Over to MVY in 15-20 minutes. SSA needs to add this to the fleet for the Vineyard and keep it year round. For the people who commute everyday and live on MV,it would be a great addition.

Interesting. The Martha's Vineyard and the Woods Hole suffer mechanical issues which force them out if service and Mr. Hanover drags the captains into the problem. He says he doesn't understand why captains run sometimes and don't run other times. I worked as a captain for 25 years and indeed, decisions are made by captains to run or not to run, trip by trip, boat by boat, based on the conditions that affect the safety of the passengers, crew and boat. He admits he doesn't know why. Maybe he should ask.

I'm wondering why ticket prices vary for year-round residents, the steamship is supposedly the island's lifeline yet it seems like we are treated as second class citizens.The pricing structure really needs to be reaccessed, and I would advocate for a set islander price regardless of season. Furthermore, the profile process is more complicated than registering to vote, and they closed the airport branch while building a behemoth new terminal in WH.Im curious how the capitains and managers with more practical experience would change things. The SSA seems mired in bureaucracy.

I was pleasantly surprised when I sailed the SeaStreak last Friday. This experience was a preview of why this would benefit passenger only commuters. The trip was only 17 minutes!! You board the boat quickly and depart quickly no delays waiting for cars, smelling fumes etc. The SeaStreak staff was very well organized for stepping in with no plan or a practice run. I would definitely pay more to speed up my commute and have the simplicity of a passenger only ferry. I expressed my opinion to the SeaStreak crew but I have a feeling they have no say with the current monopoly the Steamship currently enjoys. I encourage others to express their interest in adding a high speed passenger only ferry service. Try a pilot program, I guarantee a lot of passengers would agree this idea is long overdue.

Yes, the SSA need a Facebook page. I run a fan page to share picture and memories of the boats on Facebook, and I often get inquiries from confused SSA customers and have to direct them to the SSA's website. (Although if they want photos of the Nobska circa 1964, then we're good.)

Why is our representative asking for studies and how decisions are made? This analysis should be internal with one or more Board members leading the charge. What can an outside consultant know about the Steamship's operations? Weeks or months will be wasted on educating the consultant on procedures. If the Board members do not know what questions to ask of the staff to analyze operations how will an outside consultant know what to ask? A group of specific employees and disciplines should be identified as the "control tower" to oversee decisions and procedures for each kind of incident. A decision tree of how decisions are made for mechanical failures in port and at sea, poor weather and sea conditions, reservations over booking and under booking and yes, even a decision tree for a terrorist incident need to created and then changed to provide more orderly service during these incidents. They should then identify all the audiences that need to receive communication and how frequently--terminal reservation agents, phone agents, folks with reservations during the incident, folks with reservations on the dates just after the incident and folks wanting to reserve space during the incident or on future dates, commuters--both ways, freight customers and perhaps Police, Fire, EMT, County, Boards of Selectmen in certain situations. The specific media needed to reach each audience should be identified. Does the steamship have the digital capacity to handle the communications with all audiences during a crisis? Is there an emergency backup redundant communications system in place for system breakdowns? Regarding who decides when the boats run should not be left to the Captains. This is maritime tradition and not a criticism of the Captains because this is an authority they've been given by the Steamship. When making decisions affecting thousands of travelers, ample advance notice of cancellations is necessary so alternative plans can be safely made. Do airline pilots decide when an airport is closed or when to fly? Airlines have very specific protocols for any and all possible situations. They even relocate empty planes to avoid having them snow bound and completely out of service. Regarding the seaworthiness of the fleet it seems as if the new boats are not as seaworthy in high winds as their predecessor vessels. The trip cancellations seem to be more frequent. The boats seem to be designed for summer traffic more than year-round, life line transportation needs. Perhaps a bit radical but, to make a point...Should they be sold and replaced with a different service model and fleet configuration that might include fast ferry passenger service? Rather than having an idle fleet for 7-8 hours each night can the fleet be configured for nighttime freight service between New Bedford and MV--seasonally in the summer or perhaps year round? This would open daytime space for cars and avoid the thought of "we're going to need a bigger boat". Should a pro-forma business plan be developed on paper for a wholly-owned subsidiary freight company that has a different staffing model. The boats can be leased to this subsidiary company by the parent company. This is a 20 minute brain dump that is intended to help develop a more reliable plan for the future. Some suggestions may not be feasible and it is not a criticism of the Steamship.

Agree that a passenger-only boat should be considered for the MV-WH run. For commuters it’s ideal. For visitors to MV, leave the car behind and ride the excellent buses or rent. Keep the traffic on our roads down. Charge more than currently for non-residents with cars and keep the “off season” rate year-round for those who live here and need to take their cars off. (And change the trip option portion of the SSA website so MV-WH is the standard choice, and you don’t have to change it from WH-MV. The SSA boats are the lifeline for MV residents – not for vacationers.)

Where would you be without vacationers - aren't they are lifeline (without them no jobs!)? I love all the anti-vacationer talk, where would we be without them? Nothing wrong with having a set price for year-rounders, but stop all the hatred. So many blast the vacationers all winter but then relish in their money all summer because we can finally pay all our bills. Just stop and be blessed that they come at all and give them great service, make money and move on. Also, just stop and think about the real estate taxes paid by summer residents, they pay the same as you all year for services used only a few weeks or perhaps 2 months. We get the benefit of their money and better services (schools, police, fire, ambulance) and they contribute without using the services at all. Is that fair? Learn to embrace them, they are a blessing to our economy.